Need guidance on adding an audio mixer to my FCP system…

[Mrvideo]

With Apple showing control support for the Mackie Onyx? (I think it was) who knows what is scheduled for future updates to FCP. THe Mackie was being used as MIDI control for Motion however???????

Obviously with QT 7 and 24 available tracks of audio in/out. you are going to need a multitrack interface.

I personally have a MOTU 896HD Firewire interface which has 8 ins/outs and uses Firewire 400 as the transport into/outof my MAC. That interface has a direct output to my powered monitors – the Mackie HR824’s. I do not have or need a hardware mixer since the MixPlus software is a virtual mixer within the hardware interface.

Also the AJA and Decklink PCi cards can support various levels of audio ins and outs within FCP.

I would suggest you think about the reason you need all this stuff before you invest in it.

[Brian Rodriguez]

Mr. Video,

Thanks for the reply…

Basically, I’m just looking for a cost-effective alternative to using the audio mixing tool in FCP….it can be very painstaking to use the mouse and I would prefer using an actual mixer to balance audio…I really don’t need anything top-end, (I don’t mix in ProTools & I edit straight DV) just a way around using the audio mixer tool…

Any other suggestions??

Thanks!

[Jeremy Garchow]

I don’t think it’s the Onyx that Mr Video is referring to, I think he is referring to the MCU from system from Mackie. Read here:

https://www.mackie.com/press/2005/04_27_05_MCU.html

Jeremy

[Bryce Whiteside]

This is not a mixer, but a control surface and supposedly it uses the Mackie protocol. The post below might be worth a read.

Behringer BCF2000 Motorized fader control surface for $200!!! by deadhead on Apr 21, 2005 at 9:14 pm
https://www.creativecow.net/forum/read_post.php?postid=111412166715413&forumid=8

FYI,
Bryce

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Chris Poisson]

Jeremy,

Is an Onyx board a part of the MCU, or is that a different board?

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Bryce Whiteside] “This is not a mixer, but a control surface and supposedly it uses the Mackie protocol. The post below might be worth a read”

Isn’t that what you are asking for Brian? You don’t really You edit dv (no mixer needed there), you just want a control surface to operate FCPs software audio board, right?

[Brian Rodriguez]

This is EXACTLY what I am looking for, Batman…

I need no bells and whistles at this point, just something to control audio other than the damn mouse!!

Now, in theory, I could just hook up a pair of powered speakers to my Mac for clean sound, correct? Any speaker brand suggestions for a fair price?

[Jeremy Garchow]

I don’t think so. The Onyx board is an analog mixing console that has digital (firewire) capabilities. It basically acts as a MOTU board with analog mixing built in. The MCU is more of a MIDI like control surface, basically taking the controls of the software out of your your computer and putting it at your finger tips instead of using mouse clicks. Eventually as everything in the world becomes digital (including our brains), I imagine, all control surfaces will behave in a similar way.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy

[Jeremy Garchow]

Well, I would be wary of the beringer. Even though they say they support the Mackie protocol, who knows if it really works with FCP. If you can call Beringer to confirm it’ll work with FCP5, I’d say go for it.

As far as speakers go, what are you going to monitor through? Do you have a dv deck, or are you monitoring straight out of the back of your ‘puter? Just fishing if you want to get some nice computer monitors or some regular nearfield personal audio monitors.

[Brian Rodriguez]

Thanks for the advice on the behringer…we still have a few weeks before FCP 5 ships anyway (or is it already out?), so I have enough time to do the research…

As for the audio monitoring – I have a deck, but it’s actually the Sony GV-D1000 clamshell deck with composite i/o….not a DSR-11 or higher end deck…therefore, yes, I am monitoring out of the computer…

Speaker Suggestions?

Thanks for the help…

Brian